Iruka darted forwards, inwardly surprised at how slow his opponent seemed to be as he followed him through use of his clan's echolocation technique. 'Of course... by the time he uses this, he's almost won already... can't hit what you can't find." Bringing his hands together in the ox seal, Iruka charged his palms with the Raihadou, ensuring his enemy would have to keep away or risk electrocution. "Take note. The shinobi who can use a C-rank technique in two seconds has the advantage over the one who can use an A-rank in five. There will be a test on this later." Iruka's mocking got the desired result, as Kirai threw a sloppy punch out of anger, allowing the scarred jounin to catch him with an elbow strike.
"Fuck you!" roared the distant illusion of the man, reeling back. "How can you follow me? My genjutsu makes me undetectable by sight or sound! You can't be keeping up so easily!" Iruka just sighed. "I'm disappointed," he began, taking note of his rapidly-dropping chakra levels and palming a soldier pill. "I thought this was going to be my chance to prove my worth as a jounin, not an extended game of tag." he taunted, keeping his opponent's attention away from his companions, who were heading towards the far side of the barrier.
"Now, focus your attacks here. If we put enough pressure on one side, it'll weaken the barrier enough that we can break through." hissed Noboru, readying his sword. The genin nodded, Naruclones taking up defensive positions behind them. "Let's do it!" called Naruto as he and Sakura fired a barrage of kunai, explosive tags hissing on the handles. "Housenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke followed up with a series of fireballs, all of them directed at a specific point on the barrier. The blast resulting sent visible cracks through the surface of the chakra sphere, which started to close up as the dust settled.
"Damnit! Noboru-san! Hurry!" called Sakura, glancing over at the chuunin who was focusing chakra into his arm. "Don't worry, kid. This barrier..." he replied, smirking. "Is going down! Choshuu hijutsu: Daikajou Toppa!" he called, the chakra he'd collected circling his forearm as he threw a punch. "JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?" he roared fiercely, the chakra expanding to form a glowing, oversized drill.
With a final yell, the barrier shattered, breaking the genjutsu along with it. Noboru gave the genin a thumbs-up before abruptly falling to his knees. 'Still too chakra intensive... still, the rest of them can handle this loser easily. I'll just take a little nap...' he thought before drifting off into a blissful unconsciousness.
"Noboru-san!" Iruka gritted his teeth, hearing the cry from his pink-haired student. 'Damnit! I can follow him easy enough, but he's just far enough ahead that I can't catch him! I can't let him get near Noboru or the kids either... well, it's time I did something incredibly stupid once again.' the Jounin mused, dropping an explosive tag behind him, making the tiger seal as he darted towards his opponent. "Katsu!" he called, trying to reinforce his body with chakra as the blast pushed him forwards.
"Okay, what the actual fu-" began the missing-nin, before Iruka managed to catch hold of him and slam him into the ground. "Who are you?" he asked desperately, trying to raise his hands to unleash his technique again. Iruka proceeded to silently break one of the outstretched arms, sending his opponent into shock. "I am a teacher. I hope you've found the lesson informative." he smiled disconcertingly, before knocking out Kirai with a blow to the head.
"Iruka-sensei!" called his blond student, eyes sparkling. "THAT WAS SO AWESOME! You were all like, 'I'm a teacher, deal with it,' and he was like 'curse you, Konoha!' and you were so cool and-" babbled Naruto excitedly, before Sakura dropped a fist onto his head. "Baka! Give Iruka-sensei a minute before you start going on like that!" Iruka just chuckled at their antics, as Sasuke stumbled forwards, supporting Noboru on his shoulders.
"So no chance of me getting some help carrying this guy, then." the Uchiha groaned, struggling under the weight of the taller man. A puff of smoke signalled the appearance of three Naruto-shaped pack mules, one transforming into a stretcher to carry the chuunin.
"Excellent work, you three," praised Iruka, after confirming that Noboru was okay, merely exhausted. "The appearance of a missing-nin will bump this mission up to a B-rank at the very least. I'll see to it that we get Noboru back to relatively okay as soon as possible before we head south to meet up with Team Ten. Let's get these bandits tied up. Mission complete." he smiled, as Naruto cheered and drew his teammates into a hug.
SCENE BREAK
Shikamaru stood ready beside Tazuna, as the few remaining workers continued construction of the bridge. "Hey, kid," the bridge builder began, hesitant. "Why'd you agree to help me? All I've done is get your sensei hurt and bring you all into a warzone." Shikamaru leaned against a stack of timbers, gazing up at the sky.
"'Cause even though it's a pain to try and help you, how could I go about knowing I'd let you die?" he offered bluntly. "Sensei knew the risk we were taking better than anyone, but he still wanted to help you. That's reason enough for me." he gave a small smile. "Should I keep going?"
"...Thanks, kid." whispered Tazuna, even as the workers continued to mutter worriedly. Shikamaru gave a thumbs-up, though he was far from confident. 'Without a way to send word to Konoha, we're not gonna last too long. Troublesome... why wasn't I stronger? I should have been able to help, but that nuke-nin was way beyond our level...'
'We might actually die here.' came the thought, unbidden. Shikamaru clenched a fist. Worrying wouldn't do any good, especially with Ino and Chouji depending on him.
SCENE BREAK
"Just make sure he gets some rest, alright, Jumaru-san?" smiled Iruka as they waved goodbye to a sleepy Noboru, back at the border watchtower. The jounin in command just laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Not a problem, Umino-san. Noboru-kun will be fine. But may I suggest you get a move on before your genin bolt?" he laughed, glancing at a clearly eager Naruto. "You have been here for a couple days now. Don't you have to head to Nami no Kuni soon?"
"Yeah... okay, team, let's head out! Team Ten is probably waiting for us as we speak. It's about a day's journey from here to the coast, and we'll be water walking to the island after we rest up!" That got a reaction, as two jaws dropped and Sasuke blinked in surprise, the equivalent of anyone else yelling out.
"Don't give me those looks! It's less than two hours travel, and if the past couple of days are any indication, your control has improved enough to pull it off! Now, go get your packs and meet up outside!" The genin nodded, bounding upstairs to their temporary living quarters.
"That seems excessive, Umino-san. I can't think of any rookie team who'd have to pull off something like that." Iruka grinned widely. "Exactly, Jumaru-san. They've been pushing one another to improve at a ridiculous rate. We might be looking at the next Sannin." he smiled, pride in his voice. "I never imagined myself as being a jounin, you know? But there was something about those kids... people like that just inspire you to do your best." Jumaru nodded silently, as Iruka jumped up to a tree branch ahead of his scrambling students. 'Umino-san... I wonder just how far your students will go?'
SCENE BREAK
"Zabuza-sama, I managed to find them." whispered the false hunter-nin as he approached the recovering swordsman. "It seems they're guarding the bridge builder and his family at all times. However, I haven't seen Sarutobi-san around anywhere. If he has recovered, he's staying out of sight."
"He's not recovered, Haku. Not after that level of injury. Not yet. Give it another two, three days, we'll get that old man out of the way and be on our way to another go at Kirigakure, to take down that damned Yagura," grunted the older man, hefting himself into a sitting position. "Take off that mask when you're talking to me, Haku. You know it pisses me off." His companion removed the mask, revealing an extraordinarily feminine face.
"Apologies, Zabuza-sama. Old habits die hard. Should I see about getting our fellow rebels in to collect the money?" Zabuza scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Listen up, Haku. We do not have fellow rebels. The few allies we did have are either trying to get out of Kiri ASAP or sucking up to that bastard of a Mizukage so they don't get killed. Our best chance is to get enough funds to bring some mercenaries into our forces. That's why we're here." Haku raised an eyebrow in question.
"What about Gouzu and Meizu?" he asked, almost nonchalantly. Zabuza grimaced as he shrugged. "They were idiots. Hell, they're probably safer in a cell in Konoha than they were with us. Don't give me that look, Haku, I'm not worried for them. They were loyal, and I can appreciate that. That is as far as it goes."
Haku gave a sad smile. "I know, Zabuza-sama. I know that."
SCENE BREAK
Itachi suppressed a shudder as he felt the medical chakra invading his body. Tsunade was not overly concerned with his comfort, it seemed. He just hoped Kisame could keep himself distracted and not start killing and maiming. That would be... problematic.
meanwhile...
"Is it... cat?" The citizens of Otafuku Gai ignored the strange blue man as much as they could. The fact that he was talking to himself notwithstanding, he was a shinobi. They were weird.
"I'm guessing... clouds?" he continued, before throwing his arms up in defeat. "Fine! Fine! What the hell is it?" Another brief pause. "WHAT?! Chakra doesn't count, it- you know what, if you're going to use that kind of language, you can just play by yourself!"
It would be quite some time before the man spoke again. "...I'm sorry." he muttered sullenly, pulling the wrapped mass beside him into a hug. "But no more I spy, at least until Itachi gets back. Deal?"
Shinobi were weird.
back with Itachi...
"So, I did a full-body scan, and I can prevent your vision from deteriorating quite as quickly as it is at present. However..." Tsunade reported, the epitome of professionalism. The slight slurring of her words was the only indicator of having drunk enough to knock out a small elephant. "I did find something a little more worrying. There appears to be a build-up of tissue in your lungs... I believe it's some form of cancer." Itachi blinked in shock, no other change in his exppression.
"Cancer?" he prompted quietly. Tsunade nodded gravely. "Left untreated, I'd say you have maybe eighteen months to two years. Now, I may be able to help, but this kind of procedure is extremely delicate. Any attempt at removing the affected tissue would leave you weakened, probably permanently. It would be limiting your ability to breathe and even move properly. Even after all that, you'd need a transplant at some point or risk it coming back worse."
Itachi sat in silence for a few minutes, weighing his options. To a civilian, there would be no question about accepting treatment, but for a shinobi, especially a nuke-nin, being weakened, in any way, was practically a death sentence regardless of how well the treatment worked. 'What should I do...' he pondered, thinking of all his plans. 'If I die, Sasuke can redeem the clan that much more easily, but... Madara's still out there. There's really only one option.'
"How long will it take for the treatment, Tsunade-sama?" he eventually asked. Tsunade consulted her notes, muttering about 'ungrateful brats'. "Give or take, I should be able to clear the cancerous cells out over a few months. You'll have to be here regularly, though or we'll lose whatever progress we're making." Itachi nodded, pulling his cloak on once again.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. Please just allow me a few days to arrange things with my partner and our leader, and I will remain in contact for as long as you need me to." he offered politely, bowing in deference before exiting.
'Otouto... I'll deal with Madara. You will be the one to protect our family after I'm gone.' he mused, giving a small smile.
'I know you can do it, Sasuke.' he thought, taking out the journal that Jiraiya-sama had left him as part of their plans and writing a quick message.
'Deba-san,
I'm going to be unable to meet as planned for the next few weeks. Check with your contacts to see if anyone we've been searching for has shown up on their radar.
Do not draw unnecessary attention if you can help it. Akatsuki are suspicious as it is.
Be careful.
Itachi.'